The Skunk Girl
by Whirl Feather
Summary: Years ago, a cryptid had been discovered near Dib's city. People are frantic to find it after recent reports and sightings. Now said cryptid gets help from a couple of odd ET's, revealing a sorrowful backstory in the process. But will they all survive?
1. Prologue: Dash for Freedom

**Author's Note: Song = Don't Pay the Ferryman.**

**Here we go: my second story! oFTo This happens **_**after**_** Mystic Mindset book 1 (in between 1 and 2). I know the prologue may be a bit confuzzling, but try this: imagine it in first person (through their eyes) instead of a third person POV. That should make it a bit easier…probably. 0.0**

The crunch of her claws against the leaf litter. The blur of forest around her. The bawls of the dog pack behind her. The sound - _and the smell, _yee-uck! Talk about hyuuman stink, Zim!_ - _of policeman and investigators pursuing her right alongside the pack.

Yup, her _normal_ day, lately - running for her life from FBI agents, paranormal enthusiasts, detectives, policemen, and scientists, just to name a few groups who were _hades_-_bent_ on proving she_ was_ real. After a few years, she'd gotten used to it and had even made a few plans of escape just for these kinds of situations. Unfortunately, she was dead-tired, so her mind wasn't as active at planning as it normally would have been. And she couldn't stop to rest at the moment, either, or she'd be royally screwed.

She ran _very_ swiftly, Lucario-style, through the forest, her hooded cape flapping behind her like she was a poor lost soul with shrouds of energy left in its wake, the ribbons on the end of it reflecting the fading light like water eerily. Her whiskers brushed against… well_,_ _brush_, and she could hear the creek gurgling nearby – somewhere off to her right.

_**It was late at night on the open road,**_

_**Speeding like a man on the run**_

_**A lifetime spent preparing for the journey**_

She needed a plan. She couldn't just run straight to her burrows: they'd follow her the whole way there, and then she'd be screwed, again. Perhaps…yes, it just might work! But if it didn't, it'd make her tracks even easier to follow…

Her eyes widened from astonishment as she ran. _*Of course, the river! Why didn't I think of that before?*_

Her striped ears perked up – there was a great deal of bawling and growling coming at her diagonally from her left. _They were trying to cut her off!_

_**He's closer now and the search is on**_

_**Reading from a map in the mind**_

_*Now or never, I guess.*_

She felt something metallic and speedy whiz by her bushy tail from the left. She winced and her head swam momentarily, her stride momentarily breaking from a full-fledged sprint to a single bound before she sped off ahead again in a black-and-white blur. No time to look at it now; she had to get home. She could only hope it wasn't tranquilizer.

She was panting heavily, sweat weighing down her fur: though it helped her be more streamlined for running, it was very uncomfortable and unhygienic.

Her ears shot forward. She heard a lapse in the rhythm of the creek, of its gurgling: it seemed to slow down, spread out, relax, even if only just a little bit.

_**Yes, there's the ragged hill **_

_**And there's the boat on the river**_

_*Yes, there it is! Now, if I could just - * _she winced as she gained speed drastically again; the wince was from the stinging sensation in the tip of her tail, throbbing away, blurring her vision from time to time. That caused a problem: she'd need her tail to turn. It was her rudder, just like it was for cheetahs, used for turning and balance. Unsure if it was movable, this'll be hard without it. She hoped to God that the damage wasn't too severe, if any, and that she wouldn't pass out before she got home.

She leaned forward more to speed up. The groups hunting her had fallen behind, but she'd dare not relax. She suddenly turned to her left as a wider portion of creek yawned open about 50 feet in front of her, to the right. It was twice as wide as the rest of the stream. She made a U-turn left-to-right as it came up quickly, and then launched herself over the wider part of the stream.

_**And when the rain came down,**_

_**He heard a wild dog howl**_

She landed in a catlike posture on the edge of the water; crouched, on one knee, one arm down in front of her for support. The water was above her ankles.

_**There were voices in the night – "Don't do it!"**_

_**Voices out of sight – "Don't do it!**_

She looked ahead of herself, dug her claws into the silt of the creek. She shot forward at the same speed as before like a black-and-white bullet, running with the current, through the middle of the creek. _If_ this worked like she hoped, - _IF_ - the random collection of scents that condensed in the creek (she could smell them, anyway. She didn't know if _they_ could) would mask her own, therefore keeping the dogs off her tail; literally and figuratively. If not, her scent might be easier to follow in her footprints, or even make her footprints more pronounced in the mud.

_**Too many men have failed before!**_

She glanced up at the sunset's reflection in the water. It raced along ahead of her, trying to keep ahead of her at all times, all costs. Her ears caught the sound of hounds, sirens, gunshots, shouting, running, panting, and even more that her tired brain didn't want to process. Her nose was assaulted with the pungent smell of leaf litter decaying, of damp fur. Her mouth was dry from the day's run-for-your-life marathon - a bit longer than the chases usually were…

_**Whatever you do**_

_**Don't pay the ferryman**_

"Ok, ok, where am I?" she muttered to herself, trying to stay calm even though today's pursuit was longer than most – not a good sign; her pursuers were growing bolder, surer…

_Greeeaattt. _Just what she needed.

She glanced around, slowing down slightly, to see if she recognized anything in the area. Eventually, she took a risk and stopped, then gasped shortly in recognition; there was a thick old tree off to the creek's left shore that had an X scratched into it; three claw marks one way, three another.

_**Don't even fix a price**_

She narrowed her eyes. _*Best to stick to the trees now; they shouldn't be able to follow me there,* _she thought, tilting her head back to look at the canopy high above her. She reached behind her head, flipped up her gray hood with light-blue-and-yellow-triangles bordering the rim, then crouched down and shot onto a branch about ten feet off the ground in one swift, smooth spring like a cat jumping to a perch.

_**Don't pay the ferryman**_

_**Until he gets you to the other side!"**_

She landed on the branch in another catlike crouch, panting heavily still, desperate for air. It was a wonder she didn't overheat and keel over in mid-stride! But, apparently, all those years of being hunted, the years of wilderness life, _and_ the bullying _before __that_ seemed to have paid off. She closed her eyes momentarily, pressing her palm into the wood, trying to listen to the trees; the whispers they passed along, the sounds from almost anywhere that resonated from root system to root system. _The Language of the Forest, _some called it_;_ understood by few, but heard by most, though they might not even _realize_ it.

_**In the rolling mist, then he gets on board,**_

_**Now there'll be no turning back.**_

_**Beware that hooded old man at the rudder.**_

She could faintly hear the dog pack splashing into the water half a kilometer behind her. She could even almost see in her mind's eye the hordes of people following the guiding noses of the hunting dogs, thanks to the trees. She opened her eyes with a sigh. "Thank you, trees," she whispered down to the branch, standing up. She turned and started springing through the trees like a Suicune ( a Pokémon) would run over water or a Naruto ninja would travel though a forest, except with many more jumps; about one every few seconds, if not every second.

_**And then the lightning flashed and the thunder roared,**_

_**And people calling out his name**_

All the while, she kept glancing down, following the sparingly located trees with X's swiped into their bark that made a path back to her 'territory', as she considered it. Her deep blue eyes glowed from a mix of the night creeping in, the shade of her hood, and her reflective animalistic retinas. She made a swift leap over a small clearing, and could have sworn she'd seen a green dog frolicking with a floating purplish moose.

_*The Heck? This is a national park! How'd they get in here?* _she thought momentarily before her thoughts flipped straight back to getting home safely.

_**And dancing bones that jabbered and a–moaned on the water.**_

Eventually, she came to a part of the woods that had less very thick branches to bound over. She had to switch back to dashing over the earth, Lucario-style again. This went on for about another hour before she stopped at a small pond fed by the creek to listen to the trees…and heard nothing.

_Thank __God._

_**And then the ferryman said**_

"_**There is trouble ahead,**_

_**So you must pay me now" – **__**"Don't do it!"**_

"_**You must pay me now" – "**__**Don't do it!"**_

She slumped onto an overhanging log over the water, panting like a wolf that had just run a thousand miles; which was partially true, in a sense. She cupped some water in her black furred, clawed, weasel-like hands, feeling_ waaay_ better after gulping down probably a gallon of water. Just when she thought the chase had been given up, as it usually _was_ by the time she reached the pond, she heard the bawl of hounds; and not just one pack, _two _packs.

_Both packs._

_**And still that voice came from beyond,**_

At first she gasped, wide-eyed. How could they have caught up? She scowled and let a growl escape from her throat momentarily before taking off in the opposite direction at about the speed of an Olympic runner. Her weariness slowed her down even more now. She left behind deep footprints in the mud.

"_**Whatever you do,**_

She could clearly hear their shouting now; just behind her. She passed a tree with a Christian-styled cross instead of an X scratched into its bark. She looked back at it, then smirked and sped up drastically. Her eyes twinkled with hope.

_*I can make it, I can make it! It's not far now…*_

_**Don't pay the ferryman**_

She heard the _thump thump thump _of a helicopter above her head as she weaved in between the gnarled tree trunks like Dash from the movie _The Incredibles._

_**Don't even fix a price!**_

_**Don't pay the ferryman**_

Soon enough, she was able to pull very far ahead of her pursuers again. She stopped when she saw an old rotting stump about as wide as she was and as tall as her mid-thigh up ahead. She jogged up to its front, and there in the wood and soil, half embedded, was a small cavity. She cleaned out the excess dirt and leaf litter from its opening, and then swung herself in feet-first.

_**Until he gets you to the other side!"**_

She dropped about ten feet to the floor of an extensive labyrinth, landing catlike again. The walls were squared, brown with earth, and all had stone supports and frames along the sides made of what appeared to be onyx, and there were torches hung every few feet along the wall; it looked like an old mine. The midnight black onyx framing glittered black in the torchlight like the beady eyes of some Hollywood monster.

She hefted up a large stone as big as her head from the floor beside her and placed it in the opening under the stump, then slumped down against the wall until she was in a sitting position, legs extended. Exhausted, panting, tired, and dehydrated, she listened to the stampede of believers and canines clatter overhead, knocking some soil loose from the ceiling as she struggled to catch her breath. She hoped none of the dogs would catch her scent…

_**Don't pay…..**_

_**The ferryman!**_

* * *

**Author's Note – yes, I know the song doesn't **_**seem **_**to go with the chapter, but I put it in because:**

**I thought it was a cool pursuit-scene-background song.**

**A possible interpretation of the lyrics goes well with the main character of this story's background. You'll see…maybe not **_**just**_** in this story, but you'll see. It'll prolly also be mentioned in any story she's in. And no, the meaning doesn't revolve around the analogies of the River Styx and Charon **_**completely. **_**It's more of a moral/theme meaning on choices etc. or something when you think about it!**

**Thanks for Reading! Disclaimer: I do not own the song…If I did, I'd be a millionaire and have this stuff published instead of sharing it with you people. XD Btw I didn't add a few lyrics at the end, it was all just refrain I didn't really need to add, so…**

**P.S. I may not update as often on this one.**


	2. 1: Bill's Theory

**Author's Note - *Does not own IZ/news channel from IZ or "Kittenfoot."***

A disguised Pleecy plopped onto the couch before heading off to Skool next to a curled-up black-with-white-tippings cat. The local (hyuuman) news channel, 'WHUH?', was on.

"I miss anything?" she said before munching on her Irken breakfast tart.

"Well, there were more robberies –" started the sleek-looking, Mimi-like cat. Yes, started the _cat. _Well, not a _real_ cat, actually: Pleecy's S.I.R. Unit, Neeka_, Earth_ _in cognito._ You see, Pleecy is an Irken, and a special one at that. If you don't know what an Irken is, then why are you here, anyway? If you don't know why Pleecy is special among them, I can understand that; it's a _long_ story. A very. Long. Story. That I can't delve into right now. Sorry! ^.^'

**(A/N: Please refer to another story of mine, **_**Mystic Mindset,**_** for a description of appearance other than an indirect one if you haven't read it/seen the design vids. Please either read her descriptions in MM or look at her pics on one of my vids, ty! ^FT^ Not advertising myself or anything, btw! Just giving you people some extra convenience)**

"As usual…"

"A few important deaths," –at that, Pleecy laughed heartily, smirking evilly – "and they keep mentioning more new cryptid sightings."

_That_ caught Pleecy's attention. She choked on a bite of tart. "_P-p-pardon?"_ she stammered, throat rough from gagging on a bite of sugary Irken breakfast foodstuff **(A/N yes, it's a real word! I typed 'food' then looked at its synonyms!)**. Neeka's head lifted up and her holographic ears perked forward, the disguise responding to her emotions. Pleecy put a hand up, motioning that she was okay and didn't need Neeka's help. "N-no, I'm fine." She coughed again, and then took a deep breath. Pleecy smirked. "Another sighting, eh? Is it that, oh, what was it called?" Pleecy snapped her fingers a few times, flexing her wrist as she did so. "That's it! That _Skunk Girl_ thing?"

"Yes, Master. Supposedly, there's a vide –"

Neeka was cut off by the announcer dude's screaming from the TV as the news switched to a new segment. It was the old guy with gray hair, Pleecy recognized him as. "_GUESS __**WHAT**_**?** We've got more evidence of _The Skunk Girl, _the monster that's had sightings dating back about a _decade _or so! The newest discovered…uh…" he looked off camera nervously, confused. A few murmurs from offstage were heard, and he turned back to the screen. "I-I'm sorry, Mr. Bill, what did you call it again? A crap-toad?"

The video feed of the newsroom was replaced by a screenshot of Bill the paranormal investigator, standing in front of a forest. The corner kept blinking 'live', just as it always did on the news. He made an offended-choking noise, and then said, "Mr. Newsperson, that's offensive to monsters _everywhere_! No, I said _cryptoid, _sometimes called cryptid instead."

The screen split between the forest feed and the newsroom. "And can you tell us more about this…this _Skunk Girl_, Mr. Bill?" The reporter said the monster's apparent name like he was unsure whether it was legal to say or not.

"Of course. The Skunk Girl was first spotted about a decade ago, maybe two, when a secret organization started getting reports in from its members about walking in the woods, or _near_ the woods, of a national park and seeing what many described as 'a bipedal _skunk.'"_

"What _was_ this secret organization, Mr. Bill?"

"Oh, it's a secret!" Bill said, holding his hands up in front of him and turning his head away briefly. "Anyway, my colleges and I –"

Pleecy groaned. "Augh. Not _this_ again!" she said over the TV, gently facepalming. Then she mumbled through her fingers, "_God_, this guy needs a life…" *_Or at _least_ a few lessons on _real _paranormal. He has no idea what he talks about! Idiot…*_ she added silently.

"—esis of the origins of this 'Skunk Girl'. It's obviously from space, from a planet where humanoid animals _rule_! Bigfoot, The Jersey Devil, even _Kittenfoot_, are all in league with this crazy _beast_! They'll conquer the Earth when they're home planet runs out of supplies!"

"And who is _Kittenfoot,_ Mr. Bill?" asked the reporter, leaning forward a bit.

"Oh, she's a half-cat, half-human _beast," _he spat the last word again, "that's owned by _TearsxOfxBlood_. We've been tailing her _forever_! No pun intended."

"I see. And all these, how you say_, cryptids_, are from _SPPAAACCCEEE?"_ asked the reporter crazily.

"Yes,_ exactly_! Someone understands what I'm _saying_! Show the video; you'll see."

"Hit it!" cried the reporter, pointing finger guns off to the left of the screen.

"This'll be good," griped Pleecy, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, having finished her breakfast tart.

* * *

The screen flashed a white starburst shape for a nanosecond before switching to a video that appeared to be filmed from on top of a cop's dash cam at night in the right lane. The road and rain rushed by, and the cops making weird noises in place of talking to each other was heard in the background. A few feet ahead, something blue flashed off to the left side of the other lane. In the next instant, something black and white with a colorful cape, it seemed, dashed past the left lane. It sounded like the cops had started freaking out and fighting over the wheel to try and turn into the other lane. The car screeched into the next traffic lane, speeding up - presumably to catch up with whatever it was they saw. Eventually they caught up with…something.

It was bipedal, all right, and resembled a Sonic the Hedgehog character: dashing along, fast_, _Lucario-style, along the side of the road. The cops had to almost double their speed to catch up with it.

All the camera could see of it was the back of it; a flurry of black-furred legs switching places rapidly, feet _and_ hands armed with _wicked _but short claws, A big, fluffy tail with a white underside, black top, and white stripe in between the black and white parts poking out from under a colorful cape. The cape was _very_ odd, splitting to make a fish tail-ish shape at the end like Diz's cloak did, which had silver ribbons hanging from it, blues and greens in coloration with odd black stripes. **(A/N I'm sorry, there is NO WAY in Hades I can describe the pattern of the cape XD PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE check out the next character design vid to see it, it's a pretty cool cape! But I **_**absolutely can't**_** explain it, though!) **A hood that was black on the inside and gray on the outside with an edge bordering of light blue and yellow triangles flapped on its back. A white stripe ran from an orange and dark blue triangle collar attached to the hood and cape up to the top of the head and from there split to go to the tips of the ears, which were pink inside. The rest of the fur was a beautiful midnight black, like a starry sky during a blue moon, which it looked like now with the headlights trained on it. It shined a healthy bluish-white gleam from the lights, obviously well kept.

On the camera, it appeared to look over its right shoulder partially as it ran down the left lane's left side. By now it sounded like the garbling cops were freaking out even more than before. The creature's gorgeous deep blue eyes rolled as it looked forward again. A few seconds later, a black and white streak shot into the air, out of frame, and it was gone. Seconds later, a thud was heard off camera, and more cop-freak-out noises and voices. A sound like metal being undented was heard, and the cops hastily pulled over, plucked the camera from the hood, and flipped it in the direction they'd come from. A white dot, obscured by the night to the point of looking grayish instead of white, went bobbing down the road like a fleeing rabbit, away from the curious cops.

* * *

Pleecy sat up as the reporter thanked Bill for appearing. The newscast went on to another segment for the Crazy House for Boys, with Dib being the poster child on the side of the van shown as another reporter interviewed the manager about traumatized kids in front of it. Pleecy stood up and left for school – I mean, _Skool, _still wondering about the video…

**Author's Note – honestly, I have nothing to say this time for once. But seriously, for this character, it'd be waaay better to look at a character design vid then for me to crapily and confusingly describe it, BECAUSE IT WOULD **_**SUCK. SUCK. SUCK!**_** I'm not advertising myself, just trying to make it easier for you people to read my crap without getting confuzzled on appearances since I don't have a Deviantart and always hated not being sure if I picture a character right when I'm reading someone else's stuff, published or not. Thanks for Reading! **

**Sorry to say this, but it may be a **_**long **_**while before Chapter 2 or a new design vid comes out :(**

**Uh my gawd! It's not leting me use my own dividers now! WTI?**


	3. 2: Phonecall

A disguised Pleecy stood at the kitchen counter on the far wall, stirring No Bake batter, the radio blaring. She had an apron with an Irken Invader's insignia on the front with the words 'KISS THE COOK-LORD' stitched below it.

The phone rang in the living room. She sighed, "Computer, put it on the kitchen line."

"It's not the videophone, Ma'am; it's on the Earth telephone lines."

That stopped Pleecy cold for a moment. She blinked, otherwise still as a stone. "Oh," she finally reacted, then turned from the mixing bowl and started toward the door in between the kitchen and living room, tossing the wooden spoon over her right shoulder into the bowl and adding, "Somebody stir that 'til I come back." A small robot arm extended from a wall and started to stir the thickening batter.

The 'apparently' human girl pushed through the living room door like it was a cowboy saloon door, easily and nonchalantly. There was a side table to her left next to the door, almost but not quite in the room's corner. She turned and moved to the table's front, an old-fashioned telephone sitting on it, lighting up and ringing.

"Yello?" she asked into the human conferencing device.

"E-excuse me, is this the Nekri residence?" asked a tentative female voice. Pleecy could tell the voice's owner was either exhausted, dehydrated, or a certain degree of both from the tiny part of the sound waves Irken antennae could pick up that humans couldn't.

"…_Why_?" Pleecy asked slowly.

"I'd like to talk to Pleecy Nekri, please."

"Alrighty then; shoot."

"A young girl – oh, what was her name? Uhm…Ley I believe it was. O-oh, yes, that's it!– A young girl named Ley said that you could help me."

Pleecy paused a second before answering, shifting the phone to position it between her shoulder and head, inspecting her gloves like nails, figuring this was another possible client. "Aw, sorry Hon, but I only do exorcisms in the summer, and even _then_, it's only a small amount of clients per week. I've already reached my personal limit," she said with a very _tiny_ drop of an accent like a hairdresser, almost.

The voice paused, confused, probably. "Oh n-no, nothing like that: have you heard of '_The Skunk Girl'_ at all, like on the news or anything?"

"'The _Skunk_ Girl'? _Oh_ yeah, I've heard of it," Pleecy responded with exasperation and a slight annoyed grimace, remembering Bill's idiotic broadcast days ago.

"Good, 'cause that's who you're talking to."

Pleecy paused, blinking, letting it sink in. She shifted the phone back to her hand. "Why was it you said you called again?"

"The girl told me to contact you."

"Explain."

"Well, I was running for my life, as usual…"

* * *

**_*Flashback*_**

_She busted through a cluster of dry thornbushes, exhausted, scarcely able to stand. She plopped on the ground and leaned against a huge old Oak Tree to the thornbushes' right, panting heavily, barely able to stand. The investigation group had been pursuing her for days now, and she barely ever had time to rest. And now she couldn't even continue on _at all_, even though they still followed her closely. _

_She was slumped against the Oak, panting, desperately wanting to be home, alone, but just minutes later a young girl burst through the brambles: Ley, on a mission with other members of the _SwollenEyeball_. She was sent to scout ahead of the main investigation group while they watered the dogs and rested themselves a moment as well. The two stared at each other a moment, panting, unsure, tired, waiting for the others' next move._

"_Wha…whatever you're gonna do…juh, just do it already," she panted out._

_Ley shook her head solemnly. "I didn't even want to go on this investigation." _

_She had a brief image flash through her mind: deep, strange eyes, a caped figure, green skin. _

"_Are you ok?" Ley asked, snapping her out of her apparent trance. She shook her head to clear it, nodded, panting, and then changed her mind with a look that said 'what's the use?' and shook her head no._

_Ley took out a canteen of water and gave it to her, explaining while she drank about a friend of hers who surely should be able to help. The two parted, and Ley ran out of the small clearing shouting "There it goes! That way, that way!" pointing to the west, when 'it' was really heading east, toward an emergency burrow she had made nearby. She stayed in that area for a few days until a larger group caught her trail and she was off on her way home again._

* * *

"Okay…did she happen to say _how _she thinks I can help?" Pleecy asked the voice on the other side of the line.

"Uhm…no, n-not really." Pleecy sighed.

* * *

**Author's Note: yus, Summer! **

**Yus, Venus Transit! As I type this, Venus is visible in front of the Sun ^.^ Can you tell I'm a science geek? Thank you. ;D**


	4. 3: Safe and Sound

**Author's Note – sorry it's been so long. This chapter turned out beautifully, I think!~333 **

Pleecy set down the plate of No Bakes in the middle of the circular table along the kitchen's right wall. This was a table that she would switch with the normal table during tea, snacks, or dirty work. She placed her cup of tea down too before sitting down in her usual seat, the seat facing the fridge and such, back to the door leading into the living room. Across from her sat Dib and Gaz, whom she'd invited over after school on Friday. Their father wasn't going to be home anyway, so why not have some company on the weekends?

"So, what was it you were saying Dib?" Pleecy asked, stirring a little sugar into her tea.

"Mhuh?" Dib asked, looking up with half of a No Bake in front of his mouth. He swallowed, "Oh yeah! Well, the Swollen Eyeball's investigating the haunted house down the street, and we were allowed to bring a guest this time; help spread the word about the paranormal and stuff, I think. Gaz doesn't want to come, and Dad's at his labs that day, so I figured I'd bring my psychic friend." With the last two words came wiggling fingers and a deeper, jesting tone.

"Sounds like fun Dib. Who's the lucky friend?" Pleecy asked, setting down her spoon on the napkin.

Dib raised an eyebrow at her in an expression that said, _really?_

Pleecy blinked and said after a moment, "Oh!-oooooh yeah, heheh." She too up the spoon again and stirred the still-hot tea around to help it cool a little more. "Hmm, the house down the street…" Pleecy mused, resting an elbow in one hand and laying a finger of the other hand on her chin. "Well, I suppose it'd be best if I came…Mk, when is it?"

"There's someone at the door," a computerized voice said from nowhere in particular as Dib was about to speak. A screen extended from the wall at Pleecy's right and stopped in front of her. She grabbed the side of the screen and scrutinized the video feed of the visitor: a tall dark figure in a cape drawn around its legs as much as the cape could scarcely be drawn. The cape looked as if it was colorful, despite the shadows around the door that made it look more like a shadow version of itself. The visitor could have passed as a _Nobody_ quite easily.

Pleecy narrowed her eyes at the visitor; it looked from side to side nervously, then back at the door. "Excuse me, guys, I'll be right back," Pleecy said uncertainly, getting out of her seat. "Neeka, can you take them to the room I was going to show them?" Pleecy said when she reached the kitchen-to-living-room door, placing a hand on it to push it open. She looked down at the black-with-white-ear-and-tail-tippings-and-belly cat curled up in the corner at the door's right on a woven tan-yellow basket-bed.

The cat stirred a little and lifted its head, one brilliant green eye opening. She yawned, stood and stretched as cats do before walking over to the Membrane kids. "If you'll come with me, children," she said, though it wasn't really the _cat talking_, but instead it was its special collar that let it talk with its thoughts. And it wasn't even an actual _cat, _in truth! More like a robot...

"What _kind _of rooms, Pleecy?" Gaz asked with her usual angry skepticness, pausing her game and getting out of her seat.

"Well, I was going to show you guys my tech room. I know you've both seen it many times before, but I just got a few new videogames I thought you'd be interested in, Gaz, and my computer's in that room, so I figured Dib would want to research something or whatever. He _is_ always researching, and a friend of mine wanted help examining evidence stuff for the Swollen Eyeball."

"Not always!" Dib chirped, getting up.

"Pfft, yes you are. You hardly come out of your room, Dib: always researching Zim or something."

"_Spying,_ not researching."

"What about when you're researching his _race_?" Pleecy quizzed with a small secret smile.

"That's different." He blinked, pausing, "Wait, did you say that you have a friend who's in the Swollen Eyeball!?"

Neeka tugged on his pant leg with her teeth. When he looked down at her, she started to walk down the hallway in the left wall of the kitchen.

As the trio disappeared down the hallway, Pleecy pushed the door open to the living room and walked over to the front door, peering through the peephole at her expected visitor. "Who is it?" she chimed melodiously.

The figure reached up with long, baggy, blue sleeves and black furred hands and pulled down its gray hood with a blue-and-yellow triangle bordering slightly, just enough so it didn't shadow the figure's face as much. Pleecy's eyes widened at the sight of her visitor.

She'd been expecting her visitor to have an odd face, yes, but it wasn't quite what she'd expected: the face was similar to that of a _Sonic the Hedgehog_ character, with a pale 'muzzle' similar in color to the skin of her disguise. There were a few whiskers on either side of her cheeks, all having a slight pink tint to them. Her nose and eyelids had a pink tint to them as well, while the insides of her large, slightly pointed but more elliptical, bushy ears were a true pink. The insides of her ears were only visible because the ears were flattened down as to be hidden better by the hood, so about half of the ears insides were visible on either side of her neck at diagonals. She had three eyelashes on each eye, the middle lash being a silver-blue color, the first and third lashes being silver in color on both eyes. Her eyes were _Sonic_-styled and a sort of diamond-ellipse shape with large pupils with light reflected slightly and much larger irises of a stunning, deep, dark blue. The top halves and bottom tips of their shape was hidden by eye socket and eyelid, due to their size. The rest of her face was black furred, true to her name, except for the white stripe that came over the top of her scalp and ended at the dip between her _Sonic_ eyes, spreading into a very slight arrow shape.

"It's me. I-I called the other day…?" the visitor offered, clearly female by the voice and lashes.

"Oh yea, I've been expecting you for a few days now. Come on in," Pleecy said, stepping off to the left of the door (her left) while opening it more.

"Thank you," the furred lass said with a slight bob of her head as she stepped into the living room.

Pleecy moved in front of the kitchen door with her back to it after she closed the front door. Turning to face her guest, she noticed that her cape had been slackened from being drawn tightly around the legs, so now Pleecy could see that the apparent hybrid was wearing baggy jeans and a yellow sweatshirt, both looking worn and slightly dirty, but no shoes. Instead, she had broad, black-furred paws that had two claws in front from the toes and one claw from the ankle in back, all three on each foot glinting from the decent light of the T.V. set.

"Sooo," Pleecy started, crossing her arms and putting her weight on one leg with tilted pelvis. "What's your name, anyway? I mean, _Skunk Girl _can't be your actual name, right?"

"Bibla," she stated vacantly, glancing around. "And you name was Pleecy, right?"

"Yup!" Pleecy chirruped with a very slight smile. A movement behind Bibla caught her eye: turns out that it was a bushy tail with a white underside almost as long as Bibla was tall, and Bibla was nearly as tall as two Pleecys, which meant she was just a few inches shorter than the Almighty Tallest themselves. The stripe from atop Bibla's head apparently split at the hidden base of her tail and ran along the edge of the white underside, curving up about a foot or so before the end of the tail to make a sort of loop or ellipse around the tail's edge. The remaining top, oval shaped spot was black as well. "Oooh, you have a tail!" Pleecy mused with a twinkle in her eye.

"Huh?" her guest said, snapping out of her slight daze and looking behind herself. Bibla gave her tail a few wiggles under the colorful cape, "O-ho-oh yeah; I do." She smiled slightly.

Pleecy asked, resting a finger on her chin thoughtfully, "How the Irk did you _get_ like this?" She motioned at Bibla with the same hand.

"Mind if we sit down, please?" Bibla asked, moving her cape to her right a little and motioning at the couch. "It's a bit of a story."

"Oh: O-oh yeah, yes," the disguised Irken replied with a few nods and sat down next to her guest, crossing her legs with her hands folded on her knees and a curious face.

Bibla took her hood off the rest of the way, her black fur glinting with a blue sheen in the decent light of Pleecy's home. Her eyes slightly reflected the light too, it seemed, so the already striking dark blue had acquired a more neon appearance when released from the shadows of her gray hood. Her ears straightened for a few moments, cramped probably, before Bibla dropped them a little lower. "Well," she began, sighing and bowing her head forward. Her eyes took on a saddened shade, her ears flattened pitifully. "I'm not sure how long it's been since, but a while ago a friend of mine and I decided to run away. We were so close, such close friends…" She paused, moving her head a little to her left to look at the apparent human girl. "It's funny; I don't even remember why we ran away, or what her name was. It's been so long…

"Well anyway, we took up residence in a national park, assuming we'd be quite safe and secluded, which we were. We didn't notice the passage of time, nor the slow process of the metamorphosis. It felt like years; years learning the ways of the forest, years learning how to survive, years of trial and error…years of Adaptation we didn't notice. We felt like we were at peace. It was all…perfect, I guess."

"Until…?" Pleecy coaxed, sensing something wrong.

"I…I can't remember what happened to her. I know that she had Adapted Mountain Lion, while I Adapted Skunk, obviously. I don't remember a lot about those days. Besides them being peaceful and woodsy and stuff, I just remember that she was just…gone. Without a trace. I _know_ something bad happened: I _know _that!" Bibla hit her forehead with the heels of her palms with each word, "I just _can't_ remember!" She sat for a few moments in silence, her wrists pushed to her forehead. "I can't explain it any other way besides that. It's so hard to. I don't know _how_ to explain it _besides_ forgetting, because it's _not _forgetting – "

"It's ok, I feel what you mean." Pleecy put a hand on her leg comfortingly.

"…You… _feel _it?" Bibla looked up at her, quizzically, but also a bit hopefully.

Pleecy simply nodded with a stern expression. She put a finger near the branching spiral on her own forehead, "I can feel how your mind feels, especially since you're putting out vibes more strongly."

"Wait, like, you're psychic or something?"

"You could say that," Pleecy said with a secretive smirk. "It's complicated."

Bibla looked at her expectantly.

Pleecy sighed. "You're gonna make me explain better, aren't you?"

Bibla said nothing, blinked.

Pleecy took a breath, thinking of how to proceed. "You've heard of aliens, I'm sure?"

"Of course."

"Well, ah…don't freak out, but, uh…Oh screw it." Pleecy glanced around quickly, touched the silver metal band around her neck, and deactivated her disguise long enough for her guest's eyes to widen in shock. She reactivated it after a few seconds, touching the metal band around her neck again and fizzing from a blue skinned, peculiar blue eyed, buglike being with the same spiral mark to her brown haired, blue human eyed, pale skinned disguise. "Personally, I think that's better than explaining."

Bibla blinked a few times and shook her head. "You're a…you're an alien…"

Pleecy smiled a little.

"'Least I don't have to feel too weird anymore."

"Heh. Darling, everybody's weird, 'cause everybody's different," Pleecy said with a better smile, putting the hand on her shoulder. She cleared her throat, leaning back to her spot on the couch, "You were saying?"

After a moment, Bibla started again, "O-oh yeah. Well, it wasn't until about a decade ago that I started being followed and hunted. It's quite easy to outrun them, at least, since we made catacombs and emergency shelters scattered throughout the forest. My main problem is just the holes in my memory. I attribute that to time, though, so it usually doesn't bother me. That's about it."

Pleecy sat with her elbow on her bent knee with that foot on the edge of the couch and a few fingers resting across her chin thoughtfully. After a moment of mulling her guest's story over, she mused, "So you…changed into a skunk….ish girl?"

"_Adapted,_ yes. The skunk was apparently my inner animal, if you will, so that's what I Adapted into. My friend Adapted into a feline, so that would've been _her _'inner animal'."

Pleecy's antennae flicked under her disguise, and she turned to the kitchen doorway just as Dib was closing the door behind him. "Hey Pleecy, this one picture you've got is – " He cut himself off when he turned around and saw Bibla.

The duo on the couch both stood abruptly, Pleecy trotting up to the wide-eyed human's side. "Dib, don't panic - "

"P-panic? Ehehe, w-who's panicking? It's not like there's a monster standing in my friend's living room or anything, ehehe," Dib held up a camera, "C-can I get a picture?"

Pleecy facepalmed. "Dib, really, now's not the time for this."

"I-it's ok, Pleecy," Bibla said cheerily, raising a cautioning hand to her and smiling slightly at Dib.

Dib made an excited noise like a squeal, eagerly handed Pleecy the camera, and ran the short distance to Bibla. Pleecy smiled, shook her head and, laughing, raised the camera up.

She leaned into the frame with a zipper-toothed beam in the last few seconds.


	5. Fake Out and Running

**Author's Note - * 'Aight: pronounced Ah-EET~ slang for 'all right'**

**Well, here it is!~ The last chapter of The Skunk Girl. Thanks for Reading!~ **

**In particular, I like how the last scene came out Does it strike anyone as familiar? :3**

Pleecy nervously smoothed her dress, the slightest dash of distress in her blue diamond eyes. She stood near the middle of the dim living room, facing the door and its lit-up outline, a panting, doubled-over Dib, and Bibla. "Do you really think this'll work?" she asked with a voice not exactly her own, looking up from her dress; it sounded a little more alto than her voice usually sounded, but all in all the same.

Bibla nodded, standing with back straight and an air of confidence, arms crossed, silhouetted against the outside glow through the door edges and windows. "Of course it will work. You won't even be going out there, and I can easily outrun them." She looked down at Dib, huff-puffing at her left, "You led them all here, right?" Her voice wasn't truly her own, either.

Dib turned his head up to the right and nodded at her, having been leaned over and resting on his knees. He had just come in a few minutes ago, right before the girls put their plan into full swing. His job had been to gather and fire up any investigators in the area, including Swollen Eyeball members and the police, and bring the mob to Pleecy's house. After firing them up outside the door (which he had to admit was something he felt he'd always wanted to do; rile up a crowd against some monster), he snuck away and came in through the window by the big tree to the house's right side. Personally, he thought it worked a little too well…

"And you're _sure_ you're ok?" she retorted again, eyes narrowing faintly.

"Y-yeah," he panted out. "I'm all good. Just need…*puff* to rest…*puff*" He moved to the couch and flopped-sprawled down. The girls both assumed he'd passed out or fallen asleep; poor human.

The sounds of a rioting mob were heard outside, growing in strength slowly and moderately. The apparent Skunk Girl stretched her arms and hands out before her and cracked her fingers. " 'Aight*, let's do this!"

The crowd had all murmured to themselves and each other for a time before a few got impatient and the murmurs switched to an almost-uproar. This eventually went into a snowball effect and the herd of investigators, enthusiasts, various members of various things, law enforcement, and other nutso things went, well, nuts.

Someone cried out "over there!" and everyone's noisy attention went to a black and white form with a bluish flapping cape dashing to the right out the back of the house. It went dodging through gardens and backyards, silver streamers on the cape's end shimmering behind it like fishing lures, heading towards a far off mountain range to the north. Cries such as 'there it goes!' and 'get it!' rang out in the vallied city's musty air as the mob started off after what they were certain was The Skunk Girl.

They had it now, yes! Surely!

Pleecy was crouched behind the sofa's left arm (for it was farthest from the door), peeking out around it as the cries of the crowd outside faded off into the distance. So far, the plan was working.

Pleecy looked up to the arm. "Will she be ok? A-are they gone?" she asked the shadowed cat perching there.

Neeka looked from the door down to her seeming master, "Yes, they're gone. And my master can surely outrun them, if not get them lost, or if needed, teleport home." The cat, who talked without moving her mouth at all, looked to the door. "The plan was to make it look like you ran over to Canada. Therefore they couldn't purse you anymore; you'd be Canada's problem. They should leave you alone after this, then."

"Well, that's good." Pleecy stood, brushed herself off a tad. "You guys must have excellent technology if that worked!"

"Well, disguises _are_ considered important, and holo-disguises even more so." A medium-sized rectangle on the cat's neck lit up red in the dark when she 'talked'; it was her own holo-disguise collar, specially made by Pleecy to let her speak with her thoughts.

"Huh," Pleecy hummed to herself as Neeka turned back to the door.

Dib snorted in his sleep…

She dashed on, Lucario-style, arms out at her sides in an arrow shape with quick foot movements, having finally made it to the mountain range. She dodged and swerved around trees and rocks that she sensed were there before she even got to them. The mob was lagging behind her drastically; well, looks like they were going to use the get-them-lost part of the plan. The dark forest seemed to go on a long way around her, like an ocean if she'd ever seen one, and she'd seen plenty of them. A healthy Earth woodland, if there wasn't a city nearby. Even so, it didn't seem to be in that bad of shape!

"_So how do you think she'll do?" Pleecy asked. _

"_Oh, I'm sure Master will do well," Neeka replied, hopping down from the couch arm and stretching. "She's been in worse positions then this, much worse." Her voice was solemn and serious with the memories._

Up, up the slope, not far to the Canadian boundary, just over the next mountain, no biggy.

She figured she wouldn't have to do any work-outs for a week after this. Phew!

Suddenly, her ear-antennae twitched at the sound of growls and barks coming up the rise. She stopped, looked around, took a few deep breaths, and ninja leapt to the canopy above her, cape flopping like a jellyfish's stingers, as the Earth canine came over the top of a small cliff behind her.

She watched a small group from the crowd and a few dogs converge under the trees below her. They conferred for a few moments, pointing in directions then splitting up.

She assumed it'd be best to stick to the trees from there.

She glanced out over the treetops seriously, determinedly almost, shading her eyes with her paw-hand. She squinted. It was late morning, maybe seven- or nine-O'-clock, and the sun was fresh and new halfway to local noon up the skyline. Canada's boundary was just a few more miles away. Easy peesy for someone like her.

"_Don't you think she'll get tired eventually?"_

"_Oh, you're overthinking this; calm down, Ma'am!~ You could easily make that dash yourself, most likely. Master will get to the boundary line a bit faster than you could! And if needed, she'd just fake something and teleport back, like I said."_

_Dib stirred on the couch, "Guh…what time is it?" he moaned. The two apparent aliens giggled at him, Neeka hopping up on top of him and curling up like a blanket._

_Pleecy's two jutting bits of hair bobbed slightly as she looked from Dib to the window, out at the nearby mountain range._

She pulled herself from the tangle of limbs and leaves, picked pieces of tree from her fur, grabbed part of her tail and yanked it the rest of the way up. She started a dash over the trees again, but some of the silvery ribbons on the end of her cape were still tangled and twisted around a branch or two, and she fell down through a chunk of canopy. She scrunched her eyes shut, feeling herself crash through a few branches before coming to a stop in a tree-made cradle.

A few calls went out when a small group of people nearby saw her through the tangled web of limbs just barely supporting her. A bunch more people came running over. She picked herself up, climbed out of the catch-cradle, and started back on her dash across the treetops, the next mountain rise lazily arching in her sights.

_Okay, this is _the last_ time I go running from some random angry mob! _she thought, and cursed internally a 'g-d' phrase. Screw kicking her habit at the moment!

Eventually she lost the pack again, and she could sense the boundary line about 100 yards ahead, just over a new rise, the main part of the rise she'd been aiming for. It would only take a short little dash after she climbed over the rise.

Only a short little dash to freedom. Not her own freedom, no, not quite; freedom for another, freedom for a friend.

A New Friend.


End file.
